Mortification
by Euterpe
Summary: Daria learns a lesson from the least likely of suspects.


Daria scribbled furiously in her notebook. She couldn't believe she'd done that. And Trent had seen! Could she ever go to the Lane house again? Certainly not while Trent still lived there.   
So basically no, never, ever again.  
She paused a moment in her scrawling to consider this logically. But she quickly shook off any reasonable thoughts and got up with a huff from her bed.  
"Can I face Jane with this? Will she let me live this down? Should I run away? Join a Cult? Sacrifice Quinn?" Daria stopped and looked around self-consciously for talking to herself. "Oh, God. Now this again. I need a walk." And with that she took off toward Dega Street.  
Walking cautiously through the semi-crowded lane, Daria paused in front of Axl's Piercing Parlor.  
"...Daria, it would look really hot.'' Daria thought of the time Trent convinced her to pierce her belly button.   
"Never again," she muttered. "No amount of piercing, no matter how obscene the location, could convince him that I'm 'really hot' now."  
Daria meandered from store to store in much the same manner and mood when she decided a new CD might help her forget. FunkyPunk CD's it was.  
On her way to the checkout with her new CD, Daria was shocked to feel a hand on her shoulder.  
"Hey, Daria." This is what Daria needed right now: A five-minute conversation extended to a full half-hour by the one and only Jesse Moreno.  
"Oh... Er, hi, Jesse." Daria's mind cranked fast for a way out of this exchange.  
"You comin' to our show tonight?" The words fit together as a question, but out of Jesse's mouth were devoid of all orientation.  
"I... Uh... Don't think so." Daria figured no excuse would be necessary.  
"Aww, That's a shame. Why not?"  
"...Uhm... Last time I was there the food made me sick." Or the music. Or the People. Whatever.  
"Oh. Well then you shouldn't go."  
"Uh, thanks Jesse. Good idea."  
There was an awkward pause where no one talked, but neither would walk away, as they both still had to pay for their CD's.  
"Well, why don't you just not eat the food?" Jesse had finally participated in the conversation and looked extremely pleased with himself for giving such great advice. Unfortunately, such brilliance caught Daria off guard.  
"Uh... 'cause." Daria winced. Even Jesse could see through that drivel of an excuse. She dug furiously in her pocket and shoved a wad of cash at the clerk. "Uhmm.. I'm on a diet."  
Still confused, Jesse continued hid inquisition. "Well then you won't need the food anyways."  
"Well, I'm so hungry, I'm liable to slip and eat anything in sight." Would it never end?  
Jesse's face softened. "Daria, are you having body issues?"  
"No... I was just trying to keep the holiday pounds off, you know how it is." She quickly made her way to the door. "See ya around, Jesse."  
For some reason, Jesse would not let this slide. "Hey, do you want to hang out for a while?"  
By this point Daria was completely bewildered. "I, Uh... Oh sure, why not." I've decided to become a shut in anyway; my last meal may as well be with Jesse Moreno.  
  
Half an hour later, Jesse and Daria were seated in a back booth of Pizza King, looking at the menu.  
"I suppose you want to get a vegetarian pizza."   
Daria looked up from her menu. "What?"  
Jesse stared at her. "Aren't you on your diet? You'll probably want vegetarian pizza then."  
Jesse had actually remembered their conversation from earlier. He was surprising her at every turn. "Oh... Uhm... good point, Jesse. I'll get vegetarian."  
"Great." Jesse got up to give place their order at the counter. He came back with two sodas. "I got you a diet," he said with a grin.  
Daria took her soda cautiously, and the two began drinking in silence. Surprisingly, it was Jesse to break this silence.  
"So Daria, what were you up to today, before I ran into you?" Again, Jesse proved to be much more articulate than Daria had originally thought, almost to the degree to being charismatic.  
"Oh, just going for a walk. I needed to do some thinking. What about you?"  
"I was thinking about something too. Last night at the Zen, I was talking to some girls you know, when I tripped over a cord on the ground, and I knocked a beer out of this huge guy's hand. The beer spilled all over one of the girl's new suede jacket, and the guys was all cussing me out."  
Daria's eyes widened at the familiarity of the incident. While she wasn't at the Zen, and didn't spill beer on anyone, the absolute sense of mortification in Jesse's voice (and the fact that Jesse had emotion in his voice at all) stuck Daria. "Gosh, Jesse, that must have been awful."  
"It was. But the girl in the jacket still gave me her number. I really want to call her, but I'm so embarrassed about the whole thing."  
The Pizza King waiter brought Daria and Jesse's pizza to the booth, and they both sat, quietly nibbling on slices. Daria thought about Jesse's predicament.  
"Jesse, you don't need to worry about something like that if she doesn't care either. People aren't perfect, and they never will be. Embarrassing things happen everyday to everyone, trust me. If this girl gave you her number after seeing you at your worst, then think bout how much she'll like you at your best."  
Jesse's eyes brightened. "Wow, Daria. That's great advice. Besides, if she would choose not to like me over something as stupid as that, then I don't want to get to know her anyways."  
At this last statement, Daria's eyes brightened. "Exactly! Real friends aren't going to dislike you just because you're clumsy, or you sometimes say the wrong thing... True friends will look beyond that."  
The pair went back to their pizza, again neither speaking until they were both done eating. Jesse gave Daria a ride home. As she turned to get out, Jesse touched her shoulder.  
"Thanks for eating lunch with me, Daria."  
"Uhm... Thanks for having me."  
"Trent's right, you're the best person to talk to."  
At the mention of Trent's name, Daria reddened. "Uhmm... Thanks. Anytime."  
Jesse released Daria's shoulder. "We should hang out again sometime. I'll call you."  
Daria nodded and shut the door. She walked up to her room thinking about how intelligent Jesse could be when he wanted to be. This day had been emotionally and socially draining, and she just wanted to relax with some hard-core Internet surfing.  
She pushed the "on" button on her computer. As it hummed to life, she thought about the advice she gave Jesse, as wells as the advice she gave herself. "People aren't perfect. Jane will understand. Trent will forget. If they are my real friends, they will like me despite of 'the incident.'"  
Daria connected to the Internet and opened her inbox. Staring back at her, seemingly brighter than her other messages, was an unopened message with a blank subject. The sight of the sender was what really caught her attention: Trent Lane.  
Daria smiled. 


End file.
